A marketing agency CEO has shared some thoughts about the horrible way he treated one of his ‘members of staff’.

Josh Steimle, who on professional network LinkedIn describes himself as an ‘agency CEO, influence coach, author and keynote speaker’, said in a blog post that he wanted to “come clean publicly” about an employee he “seriously abused”.

Steimle, who’s based in Shenzhen, China, said: “I might be arrested for what I’m about to say, but I think it’s important…”

He wrote: “I made him work 100 hours per week, for years, with no overtime pay. I frequently made him pull all-nighters. Saturdays off? Yeah right?”

Steimle is talking about himself

Steimle runs a successful global marketing and content agency, with offices in Europe, the US, and Asia. He’s featured in numerous lists of ‘ones to watch’ in leading business journals.

But – it initially seemed in his blog post – he had failed in terms of management.

Steimle continues: “Vacation days? I gave him a week off after a few years. I made him miss weddings and family reunions. I forced him to work when he was sick and on holidays – even Christmas.

“I also made him take crazy risks”.

The businessman, originally from the US, adds numerous other misgivings, including not paying the ’employee’ enough and breaking promises, and it becomes quickly apparent that Steimle is talking about himself.

It’s a story that has made a lot of people cringe. The reaction was so harsh in some cases, in fact, that it moved Steimle to write a follow up.

He says: “Some people took my post yesterday about the abuse I heaped upon myself as an entrepreneur as bragging, or self-complimentary drivel (see link in first comment), so let’s get something straight – when I talk about working 100 hour weeks and not paying myself, I’m not bragging, I’m confessing.

“There is nothing admirable about being an idiot. The experiences I shared aren’t to be admired, much less emulated, they are mistakes to be avoided.”

Steimle adds that he racked up $500k of debt after beginning life as an entrepreneur, but turned it around in 2007, when he says he reduced his working hours, lost weight, and started reading books again.

“The Silicon Valley culture that rewards employees for sacrificing their lives for a business is a lie – the pot at the end of that rainbow is empty. I believed those lies for a long time,” the LinkedIn user adds.